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Movement (Civ6)
Knowing how to move your armies and workers through the world is essential to success in the world of Civilization. This article will explain the movement rules in Civilization VI. Basic rules All units in the game have a statistic called Movement Points (MPs). This stat determines how far a unit may move in a single turn. Usually 1 MP corresponds to 1 tile of movement, but this is not true in many cases - there are many features on the land which present obstacles to movement. When you mouse over any tile of the world, you will find text showing how many MPs 'cost' to move to this tile. When a unit exhausts its MPs it will end its turn. Also, if a unit doesn't have enough MPs left to accomplish a command you've given, it will also end its turn and wait for the next one to proceed. Note that compared to previous games there is a subtle, but significant difference in movement rules. MPs are now discounted before you enter the tile, not after! This means that whereas in Civilization V you could move onto a Hill tile with only a fraction of a MP left, in Civilization VI you need to have 2 full MPs left in order to do so. This makes it significantly more difficult to move through 'broken' terrain, where open tiles are mingled with rough terrain. Other actions in the game, such as attacking or pillaging, also require MPs remaining. Most actions, other than movement, consume all MPs a unit has left for the turn. However, certain Promotions and special abilities may alter that, either allowing the unit to spend less MPs to do certain actions, or granting additional overall MPs. For example, all Great Generals posses an aura which grants additional MPs to nearby units, thus allowing them to move further each turn. Also, the Land Surveyors Policy allows all units that start the turn in friendly territory to move further. Moving on land As usual moving on land is much more difficult than moving at sea. Many terrain features present obstacles to movement - Forests, Jungles, Hills and Marshes all require 2 MPs to move onto. What's more, Hills may combine their movement difficulty with Forests or Jungles, requiring 3MPs to move onto! Because most units don't actually have 3 MPs, it will take all their movement to move onto a Hill with a Forest, for example. Crossing rivers is also extremely difficult: it requires 3 MPs, or all the unit's movement for the round (if its default movement is 3 or less). Mountain tiles are completely impassable, except for Aerial units in the late game. Natural Wonders are also impassible, as well as World Wonders built by cities. Roads Creating a transport infrastructure is essential for aiding land movement. When units move through tiles with Roads, they spend significantly less time, than moving through open terrain. In Civilization VI Roads are established by Traders, while moving along their Land Trade routes. Alternatively, Military Engineer units may build roads, although this is a much more tedious process. Roads become automatically better with the passing of Eras. Here are the types of Roads and their effects: * Ancient Roads. The initial type of road, which makes all tiles require 1MP to move onto. Rivers still present obstacles. * Classical Roads. Engineers finally develop ways to cross rivers. All Roads now receive Bridges over Rivers, making their crossing simple. * Renaissance Roads. With the development of a pavement, roads become more efficient at transporting stuff. Tiles now require 0.75MPs to mov onto. * Modern Roads. Asphalted pavement provides the best movement possible. 0.5 MPs per tile. Note that there are no Railroads in Civilization VI. For now. Impassable tiles Certain tiles are considered impassable, and block all movement. This includes all Mountains, and most Natural Wonder tiles. Note that unlike Civilization V, no units at all may pass through these tiles, not even Helicopters! Moving at sea Moving at sea is significantly easier than moving on land - all tiles here take only 1 MP to go to. However, as usual, certain technologies are required to be able to move at sea at all. Furthermore, the seas are divided in two types of tiles - Coastal tiles, where the waters are close to land and more calm, and the treacherous Ocean tiles, which cover most of the map, and where storms and monsters rule. The Sailing tech allows you to build the first ship in the game, the Galley, but this ship may only move on Coastal tiles. The same is valid for the more advanced Quadrireme ship. At the same time, most Land units may not move on sea at all, until the Shipbuilding tech is developed. Before that, only Builders may Embark (with the Sailing tech), and Traders may form sea trade routes (with Celestial Navigation). None of these units, however, may enter Ocean tiles until the development of Cartography in the Renaiscance Era. At this point even Galleys and Quadriremes are able to enter Ocean tiles. This represents a stark difference with Civilization V, where early game units could never enter Ocean tiles, even when yoru civilization has progressed enough. Finally, all units moving at sea (including Embarked land units) receive + 1MP after researching Mathematics. Note that Maritime units (aka Ships) may enter cities built on the coast. Embarking This is the process of a Land unit transforming to a Transport ship to enter a sea tile (and the opposite). As previously mentioned, all Land units may do so, but only after developing certain technologies. Under normal circumstances, Embarking is quite a slow process, requiring 3MPs or all movement of a unit (if it has less than 3 MP). However, Embarking to and from a tile with a Harbor District is much easier, and costs only 1 MP (thus allowing a unit to Embark or Disembark and continue moving in the same turn). Also, developing technology allows for easier Embarking, as well as faster movement of Embarked units, once they're at sea. Embarked units have 2 MPs in the Classical Era; the following techs each add more: Cartography (+1 MP), Steam Power (+2 MP) and Combustion (+1 MP). When fully developed, Embarked units move as fast as normal ships. Cliffs Cliffs are special features fount on land tiles on the coast. Embarking to and from land tiles with Cliffs is impossible, unless a Harbor has been built on a tile boarding a Cliff. Frontline units, such as the Swordsman may earn the Commando Promotion, which allows them to 'scale' Cliffs; that is, Embark and Disembark from them. Ice Ice tiles are found in the far north and south of the world seas. They are considered Impassable to all ships, even Submarines. Entering other nation's borders Civilization VI changes subtly the way borders are handled. In the beginning of the game all units may enter freely all other nation's and City-State's territory. This changes only after a nation (or City-State) develops the Civic Early Empire - this nation now understands how important is to keep watch on its borders at all times, and establishes border guards, closing its borders. From there on, units of one nation may only enter the territory of another nation if they have granted them Open Borders. Or, in the case of a City-State - if they become its Suzerain. The current state of a nation's borders as related to you is also graphically represented on the map - if its borders are 'unlocked' to you, they will appear unconnected, as dashes; otherwise, they will be a solid line. Entering a nation's territory when they haven't granted you Open Borders is considered an Act of War, and will prompt a confirmation dialogue. Unit Stacking Civilization VI maintains largely the previous games' "One unit per tile' rule. There can be only one military unit and one Civilian unit occupying a particular tile at any time. However, the creation of the new Support class unit flaunts this rule, as it also allows one additional Support unit in the same time. Support units are specifically designed for military purposes, and although they can't attack directly, their effects are always military. So, for example, you can now have a Battering Ram together with your Swordsman, attacking the target city; in Civilization V they had to occupy different tiles. At sea, there are no Support units, so there can only be one ship per tile. Great Admirals, as Civilian units, may stack with ships. Embarked units are also considered a separate class, and may stack with both a Military ship and an Admiral. Escort formations Civilization VI also introduces an interesting mechanics - the Escort Formation. Such can be created between all units of different classes, for example a Warrior and a Settler, or a Swordsman and a Battering Ram (as shown above). This new formation locks the two units together, allowing you to move them with a single command, without having to worry that you will forget your Great General while moving your army yet again, and have him killed by a lone soldier. Note that Movement Points for the new formation are leveld down, that is the formation will have as many MPs as the slower unit in it. So, it's not such a good idea, for example, to lock together a Builder with a Horseman, because the horseman will lose its greatest advantage - its speed. Moving around other nations' units As in Civilization V, you can move right through a tile occupied by a unit of a Neutral or a Friendly nation, if you have enough MPs. The novelty is that now Civilian units may also move through tiles occupied by such units. The problem is that with the new movement rules you may frequently find you have not enough MPs to move to a tile beyond the other unit, even though you have the right to do so. Zone of Control Most Military units exercies Zone of Control on tiles near them (Ranged units do not, unless they acquire certain Promotions). Rules for ZOC movement are now a bit different: if a unit moves into a tile subjected to a ZOC with MPs left, it may either end its turn, or attack the unit exercising the ZOC! Heavy Cavalry type of units (such as the Knight) ignore ZOC. Category:Game concepts (Civ6)